Chapter 11

Eli's POV

My fingers tightened around Adam's fingers. For the first time, I saw him. I really saw who Adam Payne was.

Not the man in suits or on magazine covers. Not the man on the ice or the man whose face was on billboards. I saw a man who was scared of becoming the man that brought him into this world yet still wanted validation from that same man.

I saw a conflicted man.

“It's fine and we don't always turn into our parents.” I said.

“I really hope I never turn into him. If I even have to turn into any of my parents, it should be my mom.” He chuckled.

“And that's why you're an adult now, because you can make better choices and be a better parent to your children.”

The second the word children escaped my lips, there was a beat. It was very short,

but I noticed it. We both froze. There was something unspoken in that moment.

“Yes,” he quickly said. “A better parent to my children.”

I glanced at my watch. “Oh, I have to start going. I have other patients to attend to.”

“Well, thank you for talking to me and thank you for not giving up on being my therapist.”

I rolled my eyes and laughed. “Please, do you know how much your insurance pays me to be a therapist? I need to be able to pay off my mortgage.”

“You are a physiotherapist. I thought they paid you well enough to simply buy your house upfront.”

I shook my head and laughed. “We both really live in different parts of the world, don't we?”

He looked at me with a puzzled expression. “But I mean, you health professionals are superheroes. They should pay you that much, right?”

I shook my head. “But I guess the government doesn't think so. If I was paid that much, I would probably have my dream house.”

“You have a dream house?” He adjusted on his bed.

“Emphasis on dream, because I doubt I'll ever be able to afford it.” I chuckled dyrly.

“Can I see?”

I shrugged and whipped out my phone. I showed him the property on Central Park that had always been my dream to have.

“Well, it's beautiful, but isn't this a little too modest?”

“Adam Payne,” I laughed as I pushed my phone back into my pocket. “Not all of us get millions of dollars for appearing on a five-minute commercial.”

The door creaked open and his mom walked in. “Hey, Mrs. Payne.”

“Hi, call me Vera.” She said.

“Hello Vera, good morning. How are you?”

She studied my face. “Are you…”

“I'm his physiotherapist.” I smiled at her. “And I was just on my way leaving.”

“See you around.” She hugged me briefly and I quickly walked out of the room, but not without hesitating and giving one last glance at Adam as his mom plumped his pillows behind his head.

Several times during my shift, I found myself edging towards, towards Adam's door. I just wanted to catch a glimpse of him. For most of the day, he was asleep, and it baffled me how beautiful this man was. If I did not know the lore around his father, I would say his parents did not barely have sex that night. They made love. He was a love child.

I stood for some awkward minutes before quickly remembering that I had to attend to a patient and hurried away.

Once his mom had turned around and caught me by the door. I had muttered an apology with heat creeping up my face, as I quickly ran off. I found myself smiling through work. I loved my job, but not enough to have a wide grin on my face the entire day.

During my lunch break, I was taking the corner leading into my office when I saw Chloe standing by my door with a bottle of beer.

I raised my brows and quickened my steps. “My goodness who the hell let you bring beer into the hospital premises?”

She rolled her eyes and laughed. “You just need to know how to flirt with the right people.”

I shook my head. “You're unbelievable.”

I looked around before opening my door and showing her into my office.

“I finished from set early today and I decided to come and say hi to my baby brother.” She shrugged as she went around the table and dropped on my chair.

“With a bottle of beer?” I shook my head. “Chloe, really?“

“Come on, stop being so uptight.”

I exhaled through my mouth. “I'm not being uptight. I can't drink while on the clock.”

“A glass?” She wiggled her brows at me.

I folded my arms. “No.”

“A pint?”

“No Chloe.”

She leaned back on the chair. “You doctors are so boring. Good thing I didn't listen to our mother and actually went for arts.”

I chuckled and sat down in the chair opposite her.

She leaned forward and cupped her face in her hands. “What's up with you? You look so happy.”

“It's nothing.” I quickly said.

She squinted and leaned closer. “Don't tell me it's nothing. I know when it's nothing, and I know when it's someone.”

I tried very hard to suppress a smile. “Chloe, don't.”

“Eli?” She grinned and reached across the table to tickle me.

“Fine.” Laughter escaped my throat while I backed out. “I talked to Adam today.”

I immediately saw her entire body freeze, and the smile that was once on her face immediately disappeared. She carefully leaned back.